Fortune's Lashinsky: Branded content is 'propaganda'

The natural frenemies of the media world squared off against each other at LinkedIn’s recent CommsConnect event for PR pros, as they debated the value of content produced by brands.

Moderated by PRWeek US editor-in-chief Steve Barrett, the panel discussion, titled Changing Tide of Communication: Getting Content Right, aimed to highlight the efforts and results of brands producing their own content. But the sole journalist on the panel didn’t share everyone else’s enthusiasm for the practice.

Veteran writer Adam Lashinsky of Fortune remained unconvinced that content produced by brands served any purpose other than "propaganda," despite a spirited defense by Alex Jutkowitz, chief global strategist of Hill+Knowlton Strategies.

"I don’t mean for the following to sound self righteous or pompous, but you two are in the propaganda business and you’re well paid for it," said Lashinsky, gesturing toward Jutkowitz and fellow panelist Don Bulmer, VP of communications strategy at Shell. "Readers may well like the content they see from a brand, they may find it useful, but they do understand where it’s coming from."

Jutkowitz countered that not all branded content was the same, explaining his concept of content falling on a spectrum.

"On one end you have heavyweight content, which is purely about the company and its products, and then on the other end you have lightweight content, which is purely to entertain and engage consumers," said Jutkowitz. "What we need to produce every day is middleweight content, which is a bargain in the middle where we’re going to give you some knowledge, and you’re going to know exactly where it’s coming from."

Middleweight content is what gets picked up by media outlets and other publications, said Jutkowitz, because it is a peer-to-peer distribution to the traditional media properties.

"Earned media used to be filtered, because it was going through a journalist," said Jutkowitz. "Now it’s earned and unfiltered, and that’s why it has to have a higher standard."

He added, "If it’s propaganda, it’s not going to make it through."

Despite Jutkowitz’s assertion that getting branded content picked up by major media outlets was a "reality, not a goal," at least one member from the audience admitted to struggling with the practice. A content marketer from Cisco asked Lashinsky what her company needed to do to get its content picked up by a journalist like himself. Lashinsky responded that as someone who had a bias against commercial content, he wasn’t the best person to target.

"I wouldn’t try to reach me," said Lashinsky. "I would be content with who you are reaching, and I would suggest reach me in other ways, such as the old-fashioned way."